From: michael a. lebowitz (mlebowit@SFU.CA)
Date: Tue Dec 07 2004 - 22:45:13 EST
At 11:23 07/12/2004, jerry quoted an article in venezuelanalysis:
>In his closing remarks to the World Gathering of Intellectuals and
>Artists In Defence of Humanity, Venezuela's president Chávez noted the
>need to study the original principles of socialism and said he agreed
>with Trotsky's theses in his "Permanent Revolution" book that there are
>no national solutions to global problems.
Chavez was quite explicit on these points (the second time in a
week that he has raised the question of socialism); as usual, he has been
attacking capitalism and praising Cuba, but he also is regularly talking
now about the need to change the relations of production.
Meanwhile, Jim Petras was interviewed a bit earlier at the
conference and repeated his Chavez=FDR (although it got a bit more like
Chavez=LBJ and the Great Society); eg.,:
>>He believes in a mixed economy. The big difference with Chávez is with
>>social spending. He thinks [corporations, the wealthy] should pay taxes,
>>and he should provide social services. But in my opinion the question
>>is: how can this be?
Not quite the equal of 12 April 2002 when he blamed the coup on Chavez's
mistakes, but worth filing away for the Petras Tally.
in solidarity,
michael
ps. apropos fdr, petras says chavez should spend on public works to reduce
unemployment.
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at
Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-4111
fax: (58-212) 573-7724
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